Foot Locker XC Regionals preview and training update

 A bit strange in a way that I am here but I'm pretty excited about it. In case you don't know, this race is a qualifier for the National Championships for HS xc and has been held now for 37 years. So what am   doing here? Well turns out they also have an open and master division race the same day and actually my race is the first of about a dozen races.

 Back in the 90's I used to commute to Charlotte every other week for 2 or three days and I discovered McAlpine Creek and its xc course and over that decade I logged 300 to 400 miles in workouts. Then last year Laura brought her daughter Isabella here to race and that when I heard about the open race. How cool would it be to actually race on this course that I trained on so many years ago. The only problem was it is held on the same day as the Derby 50K. After a 12 year streak of fun there it was going to be hard to miss but since I had already committed to no ultras this year I knew it was time to do something different.

 And so her I am, ready to race hard on a xc course. Thing is they don't even have age group awards. I will be competing with everyone from age 40 and up and most of the guys that run these events are hard core xc and short distance guys. They don't even list the ages of the competitors in the results. But I'm here to have fun and run as fast as I can and if I can finish halfway in the field I will be thrilled.

 The course follows the same route as I use to run but it is all a wide crushed gravel surface now where there used to be some natural dirt and a few roots and a short section of single track. Only one hill but its short and hard. Otherwise a flat course so times are pretty fast.

Looking down the only hill. Pretty steep ! About halfway in the 5k course

 And after my race I get to hang around and watch some of the best youth and highschool runners in the South and especially Isabella and Sophie in the 11-12 year old race. So exciting !

 Here is a link to the race website.

 As for my training since OBX, I took a couple of days off and just easy running for a week with only 21 miles. This week I've just done 17 but I did get in a pre race track workout geared toward this event. And I sure wasn;t slack in my cross training. since I was not running much I made it to 6 Bikram yoga classes last week and 2 so far this week. In addition over that time period I made it back to the gym for a couple of weight sessions and another 8 body weight or stretching workouts. Feeling strong and ready to roll !